It’s bound to happen. You’re walking past your local incinerator with that nice new shirt on and instantly your fine woolen threads are vaporized LEAVING YOU COMPLETELY UNPROTECTED AGAINST THE ELEMENTS.
Scary isn’t it? So is not being able to protect those 3D models you’ve spent 1/3rd of your life working on. Fact is, sometimes you may need to share model data with a competing company. Some companies have policies against sending out data.
But you can protect it and still collaborate. Yeah, buddy. Here’s four fast ways to do it.
What are your companies policies?
First, it’s always a good idea to know if your company treats disseminating 3D data with public humiliation and flogging. Standards for proprietary data typically fall by the wayside of 3D integration into design and engineering. It’s still on our drawings though… most have a ‘Proprietary Notice’ somewhere.
The small, illegible print is usually glanced over, but they usually say something about the contents being confidential, blah, blah, blah. There are NDA’s and contract that can be signed, but if you really want to make sure your data is protected, or limited, there’s better ways to do it than with a poorly-sized paragraph.
Save as Part
You may know you can save an assembly as a part file (AWESOME), but what you can also do is select what you want to show in the part (SUPER AWESOME). You have the option to show only Exterior Face, Exterior Components, or All Component. Go to File, Save As… and select Part (*.prt, *.sldprt) in Save as Type. If you need to protect sensitive data about all the special filling, the construction or quantities this is a great choice.
Save as 3D PDF
You may also be privy to the fact you can save an assembly as a PDF. It gives ya a nice image to share and archive. What you are also able to do is create a 3D PDF which allows you to share a 3D model which someone can view, hide/show and rotate, but not measure of export as solid geometry. Your boss might kiss you. Go to File, Save As… and select Adobe Portable Document Format (*.pdf) in Save as Type. Make sure to select the Save as 3D PDF checkbox!
Save as EASM
Ok, now this is probably what you’re most familiar with. An EASM is an eDrawing of your Assembly. It allows one to animate through the standard views, rotate and hide/show components. In the options during save you can select whether you want to allow measuring or export as solid geometry. Go to File, Save As… and select eDrawings (*.easm) in Save as Type.
Edit Dimension Access
This is a user level control, and while it doesn’t protect parts from being copied, it will protect them from being changed. Dimension access allow you to set which dimension can be edited by users. You can access it by right-clicking on to top component in the FeatureManager, and choosing Edit Dimension Access. You’ll especially want to use this on standards and library parts.
What processes do you use?
Another concept you may want to consider is a methodology for what people see when you show them your models. Let’s be modest here, don’t want to show too much model midriff. There isn’t any button in SolidWorks that makes how you created the model private, but you can set up processes that show all your users how to construct parts, build in configurations that suppress or hide items or what dimension to put on a drawing.
There are many way to go about it. Do you have a process for protecting your data?
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